13/12/04 - Incinerators approved regardless of risk

I REFER to the letter headlined 'EPA spells out its independent statutory role' (Irish Examiner, December 1).

According to their own literature, the EPA are an independent body "which must have regard to government policy". Surely an oxymoron in anyone's language.

The letter added: "The EPA will continue strictly to enforce environmental legislation, etc., in order to protect and improve the natural environment for present and future generations."

This role is impossible for the EPA since its director informed the Government that there was no system in place routinely to monitor the health of people living near superdumps or incinerators, and that this was not their remit - but knowing this they issued draft licences for a toxic and a municipal incinerator.

Under the EPA Act, the agency, or any agent acting on its behalf, has absolute immunity from prosecution.

Perhaps another example of its independence, this time from the judicial system which applies to every other citizen of this state.

Mamie Bowen
Glenville
Monkstown
Co Cork